SP 212 CNN and Al Jazeera

The topic was China’s Vice President, Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States. Both videos start with talking about why Jinping’s visiting, and the economic relationship between the two countries. One major difference is CNN is covering Obama’s opinions on the matter, while Al Jazeera is using a separate reporter to cover the event. Of course the president is allowed to make any critiques he wants, but he’s less likely to do so while he’s about to welcome an international leader. Obama speaks about us needing China to improve our commerce in the Pacific/Asian region. The reporter from Al Jazeera, Alan Fisher, speaks a little more about Jinping himself. We get the feel of a behind the scenes coverage at Al Jazeera. Fisher mentions the doubts the Chinese have about Jinping’s affiliation. Some described him as a moderate, a U.S diplomat described him as a “redder than red communist.” I do not believe either news organization has demonstrated an unfair bias on this issue. Like I said earlier Al Jazeera has a little more liberty, then Obama did at the moment to point out all the flaws. Fisher even says towards the end of the Al Jazeera video that neither can afford a major falling out, especially the U.S, during Obama’s re-election year. The U.S purpose for coverage was different from Al Jazeera’s, they were mostly just announcing that the visit will take place.

We all know CNN normally follows a Social Responsibility model, but we couldn’t see that in this clip. Not that were turning into an authoritarian model or a communist model, but CNN did get a limited perspective of Xi Jinping’s visit. The idea is if Obama said something unfavorable, CNN would have been allowed to post it anyway. Al Jazeera is based in a part of the world where it’s almost impossible not to be bias when reporting, and I think they’ve done a good job at following the Social Responsibility model. They have their facts correct about Xi Jinping, and the China and U.S economic relation, they don’t appear to be favoring any particular side, although the coverage on Xi Jinping would probably be considered unfavorable to him.